Storyline

Moscow, June 1941. Nina Sinitsyna and Ilya Borisov live on opposite sides of a stairwell landing in an apartment building; she, the daughter of a seamstress, in a crowded "kommunalke" ("communal apartment"), and he, a medical student and the son of a famous surgeon, in a spacious, private, single-family apartment. They are deeply in love, but, enforcing the rigid class boundaries of this "classless society", their parents have forbidden them to see each other. Still, they hope to marry, and often secretly meet. Suddenly, Nazi Germany treacherously attacks Russia, and the Great Patriotic War (WWII) begins. Ilya's father soon leaves for the front to oversee a hospital train that provides medical care for wounded soldiers, while Ilya continues medical school in Moscow. Nina joins the service and trains to become a "prozhektorist", an anti-aircraft searchlight operator. Her job is to spot and light-up enemy bombers during nighttime air-raids, so that anti-aircraft gunners can target them ... Written by
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Trivia

Inspired by a true WWII story of a young Russian anti-aircraft searchlight operator who mistakenly lit-up a Soviet fighter plane during a bombing raid, causing it to be targeted and shot down by anti-aircraft gunners. The pilot bailed out and lived. After the war, the pilot and the searchlight operator met by chance on a streetcar, and, neither knowing who the other was, fell in love and married. Only several years later did they discover their wartime connection. Upon hearing this romantic and ironic story, producer Stanislav Arkhipov decided to have this fictionalized account made to mark the 2005 60th-Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War (WWII). See more »